Tutorial: How to keep organised with Markers in Final Cut Pro X

by Stephen Ashby

Apply Markers to your Final Cut projects and never forget to make that vital edit

Editing a movie, even a short one, can be a complex process. The more clips you add, the longer the project becomes, making it increasingly likely that you might forget to do something to a particular section unless you do it right away, which isn’t always practical, or even possible… this is where Markers come in. You can use Markers in Final Cut Pro as a kind of to-do list, leaving reminders over your clips to make sure everything that needs to be done, added or altered is taken care of before you finalise your edit. This can also be incredibly useful if more than one person is working on the same project.

This tutorial will show you how Markers work in Final Cut Pro X, where you can find them, and more importantly, how you can alter them to keep track of your project’s progress.

1: Get started

Open up your project and move the playhead until it’s over a place you’d like to add a Marker to. Make sure no clip is selected then go to Mark>Markers>Add Marker.

2: On the go

You can also add Markers as your sequence is playing – hit the Spacebar to start playback then use the ‘M’ key to add Markers wherever you wish.

3: Edit it

Double-click on a Marker to bring up a floating window. From there, you can give it a more useful name. Keep that window open when done.

4: Nudge it

If the Marker isn’t exactly where it needs to be, you can nudge it around one frame at a time with the Ctrl+’comma’ and Ctrl+’period’ shortcuts.

5: To-do items

To turn a Marker into a to-do item, just click on the Marker window’s appropriate button (located to the lower-left). Notice that the Marker turns red.

6: Marker to marker

There are a couple of shortcuts you can use to move instantly between Markers. Use Ctrl+; and Ctrl+’ to jump to the previous and next one respectively.

7: See them all

You can have access to a list showing all your Markers by revealing the Timeline Index. Click on the second button to the right, lower-left of the interface.

8: All tags

By default, the index shows all the clips in your timeline. Click on Tags to reveal all your Markers and to-do items (as long as All is selected in the lower-left).

9: Completed tasks

You can rename your Markers from this list by double- clicking on their current names. To-do items can be labelled as Done by clicking on their red square.